That's really annoying to say the least. I replaced my passenger side one with an O'Reily's house brand a few years ago and am surprised I haven't had problems with it. Now that I say it's been good though, it's gonna go bad soon

 

Seems like there aren't a ton of companies making the axles anymore. The ones I got from advance are rebranded Heri (chinese as all hell) axles. The one I had before that one was a cardone, and it was bad after less than 25k miles. The passenger side still has the original axle with almost 200k miles on it and it has a very slight amount of slop, but I still trust it more than these aftermarket ones.

 

I wonder how much an OEM is, have you priced it? I've only replaced my passenger side one. They've both had a little bit of play in them since I've had the truck. Might be that very slight pop that I hear when I have a very abrupt change like driving up onto a curb or a very sharp speed bump. But that little pop I can live with compared to the noises this truck has made in the past.

 

Oems aren't made anymore for 98-00.

 

That's great. Well then I guess it's time for a SAS

 

Another Moog part down. Left Outer Tierod End. I don't actually have record of when I replaced this one but it wasn't that long ago. Called the dealer, outers have been discontinued for our trucks. RockAuto supposedly has Mopar for like $73. Amazon and Ebay for $29.99, I don't trust a 29.99 OTE to be genuine Mopar so I'm not buying that. I looked at Proforged. Supposedly, at least a few years back, they didn't outsource. They're parts are made in Taiwan (or at least were) but they keep good QC in their manufacturing process. Heard a lot of good reviews about longevity. Read on multiple forums about how it's all people will use for front end parts because of the longevity factor. So I have one on order from summit. It'll be installed up against an almost brand new Mopar ITE so it will be a good test to see which lasts longer.

 

Was just thinking... I use heim rod ends on my Jeep steering, tie rod and drag link. The Jeep parts get beat pretty hard off-roading and have not failed. I wonder how a heim would do for a Durango's rack and pinion. You would have to fab a pair up I suspect. It also requires drilling the knuckle taper to a straight hole, so it's a one-way project. Does anyone know the thread dia/pitch of the stock rod ends?

 

Just for the sake of argument how often was it greased? Any pics? What actually went bad, you can cut them in half with a saw to see if it was the ball or the plastic socket. I have heard all kind crap about moog but when i got my truck it had 60K on it and the ball joints where history. They where replaced with moog greaseables. I had to replace one because the grease fitting got clogged and no grease got to the ball joint. This was last year with 195k on it. Most of the front end was replaced with moog and no problems at all with them. Moog has different boots that are supposed to better than the standard ones. If water and dirt are getting in them that may be the source of the failure. This topic was on another forum with the same problem with moog and some people went for the XRF ball joints but they also went bad. I would consider looking into swapping them for 2500 truck ends if possible. I'm not familiar with Durango's but there may be a larger ball/socket that will work. I have seen this done on other vehicles. Have you looked at Dorman? They are "supposed" to close to oem but i have no proof of it.
https://www.dormanproducts.com/gsear...&model=Durango

 

dorman may want you to believe that, but, quite frankly, their quality sucks. I will NOT use their electrical parts, as I don't want to have to carry three spares to get me thru the week. I would have a very hard time trusting a nut and bolt if it had the dorman name on it.

 

I would honestly love to do that. I'm not sure of the threads on the tie rods but I have enough old moog parts laying around that I could for sure find out. One day when I have a shop and the extra money laying around (yeah right, I just bought a house) I do want a Dana 44 in the front of my Durango. I'm not interested in jacking the truck 3 feet in the air like most SAS's on Durangos/Dakota's. Just a mild lift with a solid axle. At that point, it will be Heim joints at every last mounting point and steering joint.

But for now, I sure wish I had a stout factory front end 😂